Salt Tokyo

This means that now in Tokyo you can be treated to the signature dishes that made Mangan’s name. To get things rolling, Salt serves up on a teaspoon a single quail egg encrusted in celery salt and brown sugar, a small package that packs a powerful mix of earthy and creamy flavors. Pair this with the zesty sting of a sparkling Tasmanian Pinot Noir and you are off to a great start.

By chance one day I was in the Shin Marunouchi building during lunch time and randomly chose W.W wine bar to grab a Caesar salad. I wasn’t expecting much, but it turned out to be the best take on the venerable salad that I have had in Tokyo. Obviously the chef in the kitchen wasn’t just filling out the menu, he was treating the dish with respect -- and even better, adding in those tart, salty anchovies that are often left out in your run-of-the-mill izakaya around here.
 
It was no surprise then to discover that W.W is run by the same team behind the fantastic restaurant next door to the wine bar, Salt, an Aussie import from the celebrated chef Luke Mangan. If you are looking for fine dining in Tokyo, look further than Salt. Mangan has brought over an almost exact replica of the award-winning restaurant he had in Sydney’s Darlinghurst until he opened the Glass Brasserie at the Hilton Hotel in 2006, and ships in fresh produce and wines from Australia weekly to build his menu.

Next try another Mangan classic, sashimi of Ocean Trout (the fish changes depending on the season) in a vinaigrette of ginger, shallots, soy sauce and feta cheese. While the last ingredient would sound incongruous to Japanese accustomed to untouched fresh fish, the snappy cheese makes the dish by offsetting the sweetness of the ginger sauce. Salt recommends pairing the dish with an easy-drinking Kooyong Clonale Chardonnay (available by the glass). Other starters, both cold and hot, with a focus on seafood, include a tempting sashimi of Aussie lobster, seared scallops with blue cheese polenta, and quail tempura with a sesame and wasabi dressing.
 
The poached lamb main course was cooked to perfection. After flavoring the meat with piquant Tasmanian mustard, the kitchen staff vacuum pack the meat before boiling it to make sure that it is cooked evenly throughout. The result is a tender dish that is paired with a delicate cauliflower puree and caramelized chicory. This was served with a Rockford Rifle Range Cabernet Sauvignon 2005, a red from the famed Barossa Valley in South Australia that had a sharp nose followed with a mellow, chocolate-y depth (also available by the glass).
 
Besides the Aussie beef and lamb, other main dishes feature Hokkaido red pork, fresh-from-the-tank steamed flounder with foie gras, and sea urchin with roasted morcille pork blood sausages (a favorite at the restaurant). Accompanying all the meals are a basket of crispy breads – a buttery brioche and fluffy sandwich buns – that were great canvases for the nutty olive oil from Victoria and the pink Australian salt with which they were served.
 
Dessert continued the gastronomic onslaught in the form of yoghurt mousse, honey and almond rolled semifreddo and chardonnay cooked plum cherries. To compliment the final course, Salt presented a d’Arenberg Sticky. Similar in taste to French Sauternes, some Australian sticky wines are made by cutting the vines when the grapes are ripe, causing them to shrivel and increase their sweetness. The d’Arenberg Sticky was honey flavored with a lemony nose.

With 500 wines available – 300 from Australia – Salt likes to focus on its wine pairings. The list runs from a reasonable 4,500 JPY selection of Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon to a JPY 97,000 bottle of Henschle Hill of Grace from New South Wales. Because of its emphasis on Australian wines, Salt provides some unusual deals, such as the aforementioned Rockford Rifle Range Cabernet Sauvignon, that you would be hard-pressed to find elsewhere in Japan. One grape featured at Salt, Semillon, is most frequently used in blends in France but has been raised to stand alone in Australia’s Hunter Valley. With rains typically starting before the regular time for harvesting, growers pick the grape early and are able to produce a Chardonnay-like wine that ages well in the bottle. 
 
Salt offers two course meals, with five dishes or 10, which it will pair the appropriate wines for dinners if they so wish. If you take their guidance or go it alone, either way you will be in for an unforgettable meal.
 
Shin-Marunouchi Bldg. 6F 1-5-1 Marunouchi
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-6506 Japan
Tel. 03-5288-7828

Hours
- Lunch 11:00 - 15:30 (L.O.14:30)
- Dinner 17:30 - 23:00 (L.O.22:00)
365days open

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http://www.pj-world.com/salt/info/index.html
http://www.lukemangan.com

Written by Tokyo Japan Times Contributer.